<p>I’m glad there are still people on this thread who read the articles GP posts and take the time to rebut them. </p>
<p>Actingmt - GP is contending people will do this deliberately. </p>
<p><a href=“Affordable Care Act Scene 2 - Insurance Premiums - #9421 by CTTC - Parent Cafe - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1557425-affordable-care-act-scene-2-insurance-premiums-p629.html</a></p>
<p>check out my post and calmom’s response. Based on arabrab’s views being posted in some article and Forbes writing about why people will drop insurance, I am convinced we need to go to a private forum to share our ideas!</p>
<p>^ I think someone on this thread is a paid plant. . </p>
<p>I think the author was suggesting that some of these people who now have heavily subsidized insurance and haven’t had a history of paying for insurance in the past may not be good bets for making payments over an extended period even if they are paying less because of subsidies. </p>
<p>We still don’t know how many of the sign ups have paid (not sure why we don’t know) but if the number is 20% not paying the first month, who’s to say that percentage will remain static in subsequent months. It is not inconceivable the percentage of non-payers could increase significantly after a few months.</p>
<p>When the govt is spending billions of dollars each year to subsidize insurance, there will be people who will game the system legally or otherwise. Take the earned income tax credit, a subsidy a lot easier to administer than the Obamacare subsidy. There is apparently over $10 billion of fraud and taxpayer mistakes with this credit every year. I would expect to see the number for improper use of Obamacare subsidies to be much higher. I am reminded of what Captain Renault said about the saloon in Casablanca, " I am shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on here." </p>
<p>At least I didnt have to read this morning about only 25 percent of sign ups are young and how this was a disaster. Maybe later. :)</p>
<p>There was an article dated Fed 27 or 28 in the wsj. The article talked sbout insurance companies aggressively calling up their new sign ups to see how sick they were. Insurance companies have to set their 2015 rates in a few months. </p>
<p>Insurance companies want to know who signed up in their plans.</p>
<p><a href=“http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304703804579382972774459560?mobile=y”>http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304703804579382972774459560?mobile=y</a></p>
<p>is it actually possible to call people and ask how sick they are? LOL. What about accidents? How careful are these people? LOL.</p>
<p>Yeah … It is stupid to find out the health of your pool. ;)</p>
<p>^^^^^^^^^^^
Particularly if a significant percentage of the pool are no longer in the pool after a few months.</p>
<p>Actingmt, somehow I have a feeling that that question had occurred to the insurers, and they have lots of statistical data about accidents which they can roll into their models for 2015 pricing. </p>
<p>ETA – Did I just do an application of Fang’s Razor??! :D</p>
<p>ETA - Why would insurers have to call their subscribers to ask about their health? Couldn’t they just look at the claims they’ve paid for that subscriber? </p>
<p>LasMa, I agree. But, I think a telephone poll about health is useless. Heck, navigators have been filmed advising people to lie about smoking to reduce their premiums. That’s the only health questions asked and it’s highly unlikely the data is accurate. </p>
<p>I think once we find out in Apr that only sick people signed up and nobody paid, </p>
<p>I think we will go to Plan B. Prevent poor people from using emergency rooms.</p>
<p>or Plan C - change the rules so people don’t have to make payments to keep their insurance</p>
<p>Oh wait a second, I forgot that people don’t have to pay for three months before they lose their insurance.</p>
<p>“The article talked sbout insurance companies aggressively calling up their new sign ups to see how sick they were. Insurance companies have to set their 2015 rates in a few months.”</p>
<p>Can’t the insurance company see what medical expenses they have incurred since they have signed up and for what by looking at the newly insured claims since the signed up? Everything is coded that comes from a provider and the claims are all computerized by the insurance company. Should not be difficult at all and no need to call those who have had insurance with them since Jan. 1. . </p>
<p>^^ Exactly my question, EB.</p>
<p>I believe the insurance companies have to set premiums (rates) for 2015 in May. </p>
<p>That is not a lot of time.</p>
<p>It’s not, dstark, but it still seems they could get a lot more information, and more accurate information, much more quickly, by consulting their own claims database. Perhaps these calls – if they are indeed happening – are just spot-checks.</p>
<p>Yes, except we have been told the uninsured sick were the ones signing up and rushing to get their medical needs taken care of. </p>
<p>I have even heard people say they cannot get Dr. appts in a timely fashion now because of all the new sickly insured clogging up doctor’s time. 
</p>
<p>In the small business market, my daughter sees every claim made friom the prior year when setting rates. </p>
<p>How would you do that with the uninsured? </p>
<p>Yeah… I was also wondering why we arent reading stories about millions of people unable to see their doctors. </p>
<p>Instead, I read that Tenet Healthcare, a company that owns a hospital chain, is calling up their ininsured patients and trying to help them get covered. First year Tenet only expects 15 percent of their uninsured to get coverage.</p>
<p>That adds 100,000,000 in cash flow to Tenet. That makes Tenet happy.</p>
<p>
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<p>We have collection agencies. Their business model is to hound poor indebted people day and night, until they get some payment. When people do not pay their hospital bills, those bills are turned over to collection agencies. </p>
<p>Now let’s whip out Fang’s Razor. Would collection agencies buy these hospital debts (at a substantial discount, but not for $0) if they had no chance of collecting on them? No, they would not, because they are not idiots. We must therefore conclude that hounding people day and night to try to collect their debts is a viable business strategy.</p>
<p>There are people who live in the woods and eat fruits and nuts, and who never touch money from year end to year end. But there are very few such people. Most people have some money: they buy food, they pay the rent. And that’s the money the collection agencies go after.</p>
<p>I don’t think thy set rates in May- that may be a first date for some think-through. I believe in my state the pricing proposal reviews- the talks with the insurance commission, for approval- don’t even start til later in the year. </p>
<p>Try to remember, pricing usually has to get approved. For 2014, the insurers asked for some mighty big hikes here and got shot down, Same as any strategic negotiations.</p>